Callum... hope to see more videos like this! Mixing antenna theory and practical experiments is the basis of learning ham radio!

I just want to say that I put one of the radials of my DXC rapide connected to the metal roof of my house due I have a small yard and I live in a HOA area and the results experimenting with this has been extraordinary, I have converged all the world with this antenna on FT8 and SSB! Thanks for the information about radials, many of us didn't know this thing! TI2GBB - Greg

Excellent video Callum 👍🏻😊 I use your DX10 wire for mine and yes, you are so right, “disappeared into the lawn” in no time!!

Thank for the video. I added 15 radials at 20 foot long to my wolf river coil and my signal report where 5-4 to 5-9. Thank you for the help. Now just saving money to get one of the DX commanders.

Another great video Callum. You put the ‘rubber to the road’ with you simple yet complete explanations! 73s ND4A

I have 12 radials all 2.5metres in length. I use a Hustler 6-BTV, all bands are resonant, except 80m which is just under SWR 1:2 and needs an ATU. Using my IC-705 on 10 watts, I can get a signal right around the world using FT-8/CW. The antenna is mounted in a corner of the backyard. I’m pretty happy with my results.

Exactly what I needed. The space I have for the Signature 9 is up against a fence and I was not sure having a 180 degree field of radials would work. This perfectly answered my questions! Thanks so much. 73

Thanks Callum for cleaning this up, I’ll be mailing you on when I can pop around to purchase one. 👍

Love these videos about verticals and radials. I use stainless steel wire for my ground radials. About 200m total length of wire in a three quarter circle and it works a treat. All hide up by the AstroTurf to keep her indoors happy.

Not having a lot of radial room I was able to put the antenna in the middle of a fenced portion of the yard with about 10 to 15 ft at 360 degrees around the antenna. I cut 32 three meter radials and installed the classic with 80m with that setup. It's worked great. Signal reports from friends about 150 miles away on 80m (daily emcomm net) were the best they've ever been. I mainly use all the other bands for FT8 and it works great. We have St. Augustine grass which is a carpet type so I ordered a bag of the 2 in stakes and should have ordered 2 bags. Our dog likes to run laps around the antenna so she will pull up a piece of radial occasionally and if I don't catch it the lawnmower will clip off whatever is exposed so I'm not sure exactly what's down now but it still works fine. The radials have all disappeared into the grass now so everything is good. Thanks!! Jack K5FIT

That was enlightenment always did wonder about where to place the radials at if it made a difference

Great video as always, Callum. Thank you so much for showing me how to make sense of it all. I'm soon (as soon as the postal service delivers) putting up a Hustler 4-BTV in a permanent configuration, yet the spot I have available is not conducive to laying out long radials in all directions. About 32 radials that are around 12 feet in length should do it. Thanks again for a very well done, informative, and useful video. 73 de K5SFC!

As soon as my radials disappeared cal I re added them so now have 1,318 meters down:) classic down today being cleaned up,new cable fasteners fitted(from you) and going up again ready for cqww ssb :) love my classic👍👍

Exactly what I did , stuck the vertical in the corner of the garden and ran radials at 90 dec no problem !!

Thank you, learning something new every day before i take the plunge

Great video Cal as always. So my garden has a classic with 160 m of radials. Works a treat. Over the summer had to take down and adjust. When I put back up I had not connected any radials! Went off with the family for the day. Came back home and did radio in the evening. Lots of good contacts. Only next morning discovered that the only grounding was via the coax haha! Pissed me off as it was back breaking to get the 160m of wire into the ground. Anyway, still glad I did. Great antenna ! Mark, 2E0MSR

The more radials the lower the resistance seen at the base of the antenna. I hear so much about symmetrical grounds run along the ground or drooping to get more of a longer vertical effect. But all it does is make a bunch of horizontal antennas that cancel each other out. If you only have a few ( or big ones) going to one side it acts as a folded dipole and actually puts out a nice signal in a horizontal way. As long as it matches the coax the radio doesnt care if its a symetrical ground plane which radiates little or a horizontal radiator which gets out there.

Thank you!

Rudy is the best.........I have an autographed copy of his switching power supply book..... I run a pair of phased 1/4 wave verts on 40..............with thirty two 1/8 wave radials under each radiator. the array works........ cheers from New England to Old England, Mike K1FNX near Boston

Thank you for explaining the effect of radials - I used your information to try and increase my DX range, but something 'weird' happended. I have a Chameleon MPAS 2.0 portable antenna system - I set it up in the vertical configuration in my (small) back yard. The antenna as it stands now consists of, from the ground up : 1) a ground spike (support & electrical grounding): 2) an encapsulated 'balun/unun', 3) a 133" vertical mast 4) a Chameleon 'Cap Hat' 5) finally a 105" vertical extension whip above the Cap Hat. 6) a singke 25' counterpoise / radial wire that attaches to the ground spike. With this config I got swr's of 2.6, 1.2, and 1.75 on 40, 20, & 10 meters, respectively. After watching your video, I cut and attached 8 (eight) 16.5' radials ( which add to a full wavelength on 40 meters) - all 14 gauge stranded copper, insulated wire. Result: the swr's increased significantly across all bands -> 4.91, 2.55, and 2.6 on 40, 20, & 10m. So I removed the 16.5' radials and added 2 (two) 33' (1/4 wavelength) radials, and the swr's decreased, ->( 3.2, 1.5, 2.6 for 40, 20, & 10 meters) but were still above the single 25' radial level. This antenna, in the last config, DOES RADIATE. I have had RBN hits all the way from Hawaii, Fla, and Costa Rica, and SSB QSO's from Fla. to Alaska, all on 100 watts. QTH is Vancouver Island on the west coast of Canada. BUT, but, but ... these results don't make sense to me : The 8 x 16.5' (1/8 wavelenght - which add up to a full wavelength on 40m) radials should have made the antenna MORE resonant on 40 metes, and thus should have the lowest SWR (reflected power ratio). But it had the HIGHEST swr ! Callum, did I do something wrong, or do I just not understand the relationship between radials, resonance and swr? Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.

You are so empowering. Sent you some email (BEFORE seeing this), and thank you for humoring me.

You've answered alot of questions for me Callum. Thanks for the great video. 73 de GI8WFA.

As I'm watching this I'm having a few ah-ha moments, connecting dots from my license study tests and things other people have told me. I appreciate helping me KNOW what I'm doing versus just doing what someone tells me to do.

I'm using 20 radials with 2.7m, because they happened to be clones of some wire I had cut for something else. They work great in any band I tried (40m, 15m, 12m, 11m, 10m)!

In the words of Joe Strummer, Rudie can't Fail. Thanks for addressing some questions I've had.

Quality video and great info, thank you! Nitpick, @ 1:59 the line _not_ reached is 2.6 not 2.5, each gradation is 1/5 or .2, so looks like 2.58 or so ;)

My radials are ~3 meters long because that's how far I could go in my garage (i really need to clean up!). I have 5 of them in each bundle because that's what fit into the alligator clips. I have 4 bundles because that's what fits in the bag I pack them in. I never once gave a thought to whether this is a "good" radial setup or not. It's what I can do and it makes contacts. Little point in caring beyond that I suppose.

I found some surplus military comms wire zip cord 2 conductors at about 22ga steel conductors. It was 76.00USB per KM in 500m put ups. I am building a radial field using it for my signature 12.4 DXC. I am mixing 2.5m, 5m and 10m and planning to put down 640 meters total or 8X WL for 80meters. I can get 12 radials attached to each of the connectors on the ground plate. I may also look at driving four ground rods near in the radial field to give a better ground plane and connecting with wide copper strapping to the ground plate.

Thanks Callum, for getting me interested in amateur radio. Great videos. Question:- Would it be effective if you had a ground spike on the bottom of your antennas? This would make it easier to erect the antenna, but would it effect the radials if you added a ground spike on the DX Commander.

I have dry harsh soil to spread my radials on and when they get pinned if we get the rains in california like we did last year they will melt into ground by spring.

How about using wire mesh on the ground? When replacing radials, do you dig up the old ones or just lay the new ones on top?

Great Video Cal, 73’s

What about a ground plain instead of radials. A local radio station used zinc galvanized 10' width chicken wire 2" mesh covering an acre under their 3 tower AM broadcast station. They had the strongest signal in the region. I must expect it would foil any attempts to dig a garden though, and ground hogs might hate you!

Sent you George Brown's original paper on Discord. Beware - lots of Greek! But an interesting and comprehensive study from June 1937.

People worry too much trying to get everything perfect.

Can wire screen be substituted for the wire radials, how big of screen or screen sections needed?

Also ... I noticed your ham shack doubles as your music room. I am both a crappy drummer as well as a crappy guitarist. Good to see those instruments!

Hi Callum, what do you think about elevated radials? have you try a comparison between elevated radials and buried radials? Tnx in advance. 73 Mauri

Hello cal I have a question when you say a 1/4 wavelength are you talking about a specific band. I know this question will help a lot of new hams including my self. If possible can you explain length in feet and cm. I’m only asking because I know how to cut 1/4 for a specific ban. But what about a multi band like your antenna which I have one and enjoy

Now I am gonna build a 1/4 wave vertical antenna. Is there any benefit to elevating the bottom of the vertical part of the antenna and sloping the radials?

So given your dx commander antenna, setup radials for the lowest band? What happen to the upper bands? Measurable difference?

Hi Callum , I know this is the wrong video , did you make that CB 1/4 wave ground plane you had planned for use with your 18 meter pole ?

Anyone have a link for purchasing the green stakes Callum uses to pin down the radials

I just purchased the Hustler 4BTV For my 1st ham radio antenna. I also purchased your DX radial ground plate. I decided to mount the antenna approximately 5- 1/2 ft. off ground level. Would 6 or 8 Radials at the approx 45' angle be adequate?? I will primarily be using 20M.. I have the same choice you just described off the edge of my yard next to a large church With a metal roof and a tree, Or in the center of my yard clear of obstacles, Yet in the way of my Yard mowing. Going to wait till Spring time to build

What about installing the DX Commander about two or three meters above ground level with raised radials? I have installed several home brewed vertical antennas with raised radials and the difference between on the ground radials and just a few raised radials is like night and day. The raised radials are to my ears far superior to several radials on the ground. Several S units higher according to many I have talked to. Received signals are far higher also. Just got my DX Commander and am thinking about setting it up with raised radials......is that possible and is it a good idea before I put for the effort to put the antenna up?

How crucial is it to have the radials within the harmonic, that is, wavelength of the band? I always thought the purpose of ground radials was to bond to the earth, not create a counter poise on the ground.

Will radials on a slope (hill going up behind antenna) affect the radiation pattern of the antenna?

Iceland Antenna area look at all the ground radials 63°51'01"N 22°27'57"W

My buddy N2ewm has a shunt feed vertical 125’ long up the tower insulated from tower. Ran 120 full length 12awg radial and he run 20 over s9 prior he had 60 and about half the output. He also tested at 85-90 radials and was about a 10-15 over s9. I was surprised as I trust the On4un and he say rules of diminishing returns was in the area of 64 🤔🤔??? He vertical works a treat but his 160sky loop at 120’ high produces a 40 over s9 I’m about 200 miles away. He tried NY to SC and was about the same strength on both. Ops forgot to mention he also runs a 10m 4 element Yagi on the tower as a cap hat too how much that help I’m not sure 🤔

How many Watts can the DX Commander handle? I just need to run a pair of 3-500Z tubes into it

3db is alot when doing DXCC!!

Can you cut them in half again and add them back in? So basically 1/16 wave.

question for the ages Callum enough said lol good stuff Callum enjoy your day de W9US

Optiomem, radiation pattern? &tuned coaxial cable. @1/4 >< wave,

with 127 radials, you may as well have a huge chequerplate steel plate around the antenna! 😮

You should not use stranded wires for radials for long time. They will soak up water and oxidize short period of time. Therefore use only solid tinned copper wire . The stranded wires I’ve used were all useless in less than a season . The stranded wires were all brokened and oxidized. Had to redo

no radials , just bunch them up at the base on a heap , works .

nice 1 cal radials make sense and bring db gain

I don't use any radials on a 22ft vertical and with 100 watts talk from Cleveland to South America, Europe, Africa etc. on 15/12/10 meters.

hmm...i wonder if you keep going if you'll eventually hit euler's number. aka the number 'e'. :P

I have 18 of them 3m long and hearing the whole world 👍

I think for some of us hams, ROI factors in sooner than diminishing returns. But hey, if you have a fat wallet and you want to be able to brag about having the most bananas, go for it.

Why not simply use some Faraday cloth vs trying to lay out a bunch of radials...simple to lay out and easy to pick up when the wife complains or you need to.dig a trench through your radial field.